Poorer neighborhoods feeling heat more than wealthy areas
As Bay Area summers get warmer, low-income neighborhoods are taking the brunt of the swelter.
Take Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, where the median annual income is under $50,000. Without much shade or greenery, the asphalt roads and concrete driveways absorb the heat and can push temperatures 9 degrees hotter than Oakland’s Lakeshore neigh- borhood less than 2 1/2 miles away, according to a Na- tional Public Radio analysis of temperature data from NASA.
In Lakeshore, which has a median annual income of $200,000, rows of trees shade the road and hug the houses. The watered grass, tall trees and blooming gardens all wick water vapor into the air, cooling the area.
“What I think the heat maps are, fundamentally,” said Vivek Shandas, professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University, “they’re kind of an indicator of something far deeper and more systemic.”
The difference in temperature can mean increased rates of heart and respiratory diseases, kidney failure, mental health breakdowns and heatstroke, according to a 2014 California study published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Just a 1-degree Fahrenheit difference in a heat wave increases mortality by 2.5%, especially among seniors and young children, according to a 2011 study by Environmental Health Perspective.
Nationwide, more than 3 of 4 counties have extreme temperature differences between rich and poor neighborhoods, according to a July study that analyzed counties with at least 10 census tracks. Researchers also found that largely Black and Latino communities experienced hotter temperatures, even when the neighborhood’s median income was similar to largely White neighborhoods.
The consequences of 1930s redlining, when the federal government rated poor and minority communities as “hazardous,” making it nearly impossible for them to receive bank loans, still largely define income and heat inequality across cities, according to a 2020 study co-authored by Shandas. At that time, San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood was not redlined, making it easier for those residents to purchase houses that could be passed down through generations.
Today, in the wealthier parts of the Rose Garden with a median income of around $130,000 and 10% tree coverage, the temperature can be 5 degrees cooler than the lower-income areas of Alum Rock, which are 6 miles away and have only 3% tree coverage, according to the Silicon Valley Pain Index and data collected by NPR.
Moving east from the Rose Garden, the tall trees and manicured gardens shift into concrete driveways and arid patches of dirt in the neighborhoods along Alum Rock Avenue and North King Road with a median income of around $60,000. The Rose Garden has 27% less pavement.
The heat and expenses pile up. In hotter neighborhoods, residents have to run their air conditioning longer, hiking utility costs for low-income residents. At the same time, trees in hotter neighborhoods are more vulnerable to death than trees in wealthier, cooler parts of town.
With climate change, it’s only expected to worsen. “It’s a real uneven playing field when we’re talking about the number of potential heat-related impacts that we start seeing emerge,” Shandas said.